Boat steering mechanism



May 7, 1968 o. WARD BOAT STEERING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 7, 1966 INVENTOR LYLE O, WARD BY W-W ATTORNEY United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rudder post carrying a rudder and mounted on a universal joint in the hull of a boat, and surmounted by and rigidly engaging the center portion of a lever. Drive means engaging an end of said lever to drive the lever and the post in pivotal travel about said universal joint. A fulcrum mounted to a wall of said boat, a universal joint engaging said fulcrum, and carried by the opposite end portion of said lever and having slidable travel relative to said lever toward and from said universal joint to vary the leverage ratio between said drive means and said universal joint, and said fulcrum and said universal joint, whereby the mechanical advantage of said lever may be varied as desired.

This invention relates to mechanism for steering boats, and particularly to such mechanisms as employ a fulcrum to engage a lever rigidly sur-mounting a rudder post and drivable about such fulcrum to effect a change of position of a rudder post and rudder to guide the boat in a desired direction.

An object of the invention is to provide a rudder secured to a rudder post, and to so pivotally mount said rudder post with a universal joint in the boat as to afford it a travel about the center of said universal joint, and to further provide a lever having its central portion rigidly secured to the rudder post with drive means to engage an end portion of said lever and drive said lever to elfect the desired travel of said post above said pivot center.

A further object is to provide a fulcrum secured to the boat, and to provide means interconnecting the opposite end portion of said lever and said fulcrum, so that swinging of the lever about said fulcrum effects the aforesaid travel of said rudder post with a resultant control over the direction of the boat.

Still a further object of the invention is to afford said fulcrum a travel relative to said lever, and toward and away from said rudder post to vary the mechanical advantage derived from the aforesaid lever, and to provide meansfor releasably securing said fulcrum in any of said positions.

Still another object is to mount said means interconnecting said fulcrum and said lever to have travel toward and from said rudder post independently of said lever, to a variety of positions to afford a supplementary means of varying the mechanical advantage gained by said lever, and to provide means for releasably securing said interconnecting means in any of said desired positions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bracket on which said fulcrum is slidably mounted, and to further provide means to allow said bracket to accommodate itself to the changes in position of the aforesaid fulcrum.

These and various objects are attained by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 represents a plan view of the construction with a partial showing of a boat in which said construction is mounted.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the device in partial section on the line 22 of FIG. 1 further illustrating in part the stern of a boat in which said construction is mounted.

3,381,649 Patented May 7, 1968 FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the construction taken on line 33 of FIG. 1 partially showing the pertinent portions of the boat.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of linkage of the nature employed to apply a drive to the aforesaid lever, taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of said linkage taken on line 55 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 illustrates a split-ring type of constructino employed to secure the forward portion of the aforesaid bracket in position.

In these views the reference character 1 designates the transom, or rear wall of a boat, having a rudder 2, mounted on the lower terminal portion 3 of a steering post 4. Said post is pivotally supported by a universal joint comprising a spherical member 5 which spherical member affords said post universal pivotal travel about the spherical center. A lower plate 6 forms a lower portion of a spherical socket within which the sphere 5 has the aforesaid movement, said plate being secured to the bottom wall 7 of the boat, by screws 8. An upper portion of said spherical socket is formed by a plate 9, which plate is secured by threaded screws 10 to the lower plate 6. To afford adequate contact between the upper and lower halves of said spherical socket, coil springs 11 are preferably interposed between the heads of the screws 10 and the upper surface of the upper plate 9 whereby said springs may be so tensioned-as to regulate pressure upon the sphere 5 of the plates 6 and 9.

On its uppermost end portion 12, the steering post 4 is surmounted by the central portion of a lever 13 which may be rigidly secured thereto as by a pin 14. An end portion of said lever carries a ball 15 engaged in a cylindrical sleeve 16, said sleeve being slotted to afford universal movement of the ball 15 within said sleeve. A connecting rod 17 extends to a similar sleeve 16 and ball member 15 which is actuable in a manner to be hereinafter described.

A hinged bracket 18 is secured to the transom of the boat and mounts a sleeve 19. Said sleeve receives an elongated bar 20 formed with a Hat surface 20a which may be engaged by a set screw 20b received in a supporting member 21. Braces 22 support said member 21 to said bracket 18 by means of splitrings 23, as may be more clearly seen in FIG. 6. The aforesaid bar is slidable in an elongated socket 24 formed in the sleeve 19. A sleeve 25 secured to the outer end portion of said bar is apertured to receive a ball member 24 which serves as a fulcrum, and which may be integrally formed with a slide block 27 having an upstanding portion 28. Said slide block is received in a slideway 29 formed in the upper portion of the aforesaid lever 13. A set screw 30 may be employed to secure the slide block 27 in any desired position along the length of the slideway 29.

A bracket 31 which may take any suitable form, and be attached in any suitable manner, and which is shown secured by screws 32, supports a pulley 33. Said pulley may be rotata'bly driven by a cable 34 by any suitable means (not shown). The pulley is rigidly mounted to and rotates with a shaft 35. Further rigidly secured to said shaft 35 is an arm 36 which, as may be clearly seen in FIG. 1, is rigidly connected with said similar ball 15 and sleeve 16, whereby said connecting rod 17 may be driven to swing said lever about the fulcrum 26 with a consequent travel of the post 4 about the center of the universal spherical joints 5, 6, 9. Obviously such travel of the post carries the rudder with it so that the boat may be steered.

It is to be noted that by means of the set screw 30 the elongated bar 20 may be adjusted to bring the ball fulcrum closer to the post 4, thus affording a variation in the leverage afforded in the lever 13 upon the post 4 as between the universal joint 5 and the fulcrum 26. Still a further such adjustment may be obtained by releasing the restraint of the set screw 37 and moving the lever 13, steering post 4, and rudder 2 about the center of the spherical pivot 5 so that the slideway 29 is made to slide relative to the block 27 to vary the distance between the ball-fulcrum 26 and the post 4, and of course, more specifically, the center of the spherical joint 5.

In actual use of the aforesaid construction, due to the fact that two universal joints, 5 and 26, are employed, the resultant action of the movement of the lever is to cant the post and the rudder at an angle to the bottom 7 of the boat, while a similar angular canting occurs relative to the moving portion of the ball fulcrum 26.

In adjusting the relationship between the ball 26 and the post, or the spherical joint 5, by moving the post, it will be apparent that the ball 26 is going to move upwardly and downwardly in an are about the center of the spherical joint 5. It thus becomes requisite that the bracket 18 and the braces 22, as well as the elongated bar 20 and the sleeve 19, be afforded a pivotal movement about the hinge axis of said hinged bracket 18.

It will now be clear that by altering the distance between the ball-fulcrum 26 and the spherical joint 5, one can increase or decrease the power which must be applied along the connecting linkage 15, 16, and 17 to effect a change in the direction in which the rudder will guide the boat. This has the advantage of affording an increase of the leverage on a large boat, or in a rough sea, wherein a longer leverage is desirable to facilitate steering the vessel. The converse advantage obtains in a small vessel, or in a calm sea (when a longer leverage might tend to over-steer a vessel) of affording a decrease of the leverage ratio.

What I claim is;

1. The combination with a boat having a steering post and a rudder carried by said ost, of a boat steering mechanism, wherein the improvement comprises pivot means having a pivotal center and supporting said post for pivotal travel about said center,

a lever carried by said post 'to drive said post in said travel,

operating means effective upon the lever to afford desired control of said drive, and

a fulcrum spaced from the post and connected to said lever to afford swinging travel of said lever about said fulcrum responsive to said operating means, to transmit said drive to said lever, post, and rudder.

2. In the combination as set forth in claim 1,

bracket means supporting said fulcrum,

said fulcrum being movably supported by said bracket for travel toward and from said post to selective positions to vary the mechanical advantage available to said lever, as between said fulcrum and said pivot means,

means to releasably secure said fulcrum in any said position,

said pivot affording angular, pivotal travel of the post about said center to accommodate said post to any said position of said fulcrum.

3. In the combination as set forth in claim 1,

interconnecting means carried by said lever and engaging said fulcrum to afford said swinging travel of the lever about said fulcrum,

said lever being adapted for sliding travel relative to said interconnecting means to move with the post about said pivot toward and from said fulcrum to desired selective positions to vary said mechanical advantage available to said lever, and

means to releasably engage said lever with said interconnecting means to maintain said positions. 4. In a combination as set forth in claim 1, bracket means to support said fulcrum, said fulcrum being movable on said bracket toward and from said post to selective positions to establish said varied mechanical advantages available to said lever,

means to releasably secure said fulcrum in said positions, said pivot affording travel of the post to accommodate said post to any said position of said fulcrum,

interconnecting means carried by said lever and engaging said fulcrum to afford said swinging of the lever about said fulcrum,

said lever being adapted for sliding travel relative to said interconnecting means to move with the post about said pivot center toward and from said fulcrum to selective positions to afford supplementary means to vary the mechanical advantage available to the lever, and

means to releasably secure said lever in said positions.

5. In a combination as set forth in claim 4,

said pivot means being a universal joint, and said fulcrum being a universal joint, whereby said pivot and said fulcrum both afford rotative and revoluble movement about their centers.

6. The combination as set forth in claim 5, the pivotal movement of said post and lever responsive to the adjustments of said fulcrum to and from said post following an arcuate path substantially in the plane of the longitudinal axis of the post, and

said bracket being adapted to swing about said pivotal axis to accommodate itself to the varying positions of said fulcrum.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,653,563 9/1953 Long ll4-l65 XR 55 ANDREW H. FARRELL, Primary Examiner, 

